The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

You may remember the sordid dollar-store love triangle that played out before our eyes earlier this year, as Dollar Tree and Dollar General battled for the affections and assets of Family Dollar. The eventual winner was Dollar Tree, and now the two companies have become one. However, they still needed to satisfy the Federal Trade Commission’s requirements by selling off more than 300 stores.

Divestiture happens when two companies that compete with each other merge, and the FTC determines that they don’t have enough competition to help keep prices down and service acceptable to customers. Those former Family Dollar stores have now been reborn as Dollar Express.

The new owners are Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm that has bought up some familiar mall brands, including Coldwater Creek, Hot Topic, Nine West, Talbots, and Torrid. Now they’re instantly the owners of 330 discount stores.

Dollar Express will operate on the “discount store” model that Dollar General and Family Dollar use, which is to operate somewhere between a big-box discount store and a traditional dollar store, without being held to a $1 price point. Dollar Tree is a traditional dollar store where all items cost $1 or 50¢.